Nurses union is getting tougher

In what they described as a move toward becoming more like a traditional trade union, members of the state Nurses Association have decided that supervisors in their respective hospitals or other health care facilities can no longer serve on the association’s board of directors. Basically it looks like they are drawing a line between supervisors and rank and file nurses.

This comes as spokesman Bernie Mulligan, who has previously been with NYSUT, said the association plans to push hard in the Legislature for rules that would mandate new nurse-to-patient rations.

“That’s going to be our top legislative priority,” said Mulligan. “We expect to be a much more visible and vocal presence in the Capitol in coming years,” he added.

Lower ratios could cut down on some of the mandatory overtime that nurses are ordered to do and it could result in the hiring of more nurses in general if staffing ratios aren’t met. Hospitals may not be thrilled with this — the Greater New York Hospital Association is already out with a memo opposing mandated staffing ratios.

Here is the Nurses Association release on their new direction, approved earlier on Thursday:

Today thousands of nurses voted to transform their union – the New York State Nurses Association – into a dynamic force for safe staffing across the Empire State.

In an historic, unprecedented meeting, thousands of professional Registered Nurses and health care professionals voted to transform their union’s structure to take on the challenge of protecting good jobs for caregivers and provide quality care for our patients.

Delegates from dozens of workplaces across the state voted to change many of the union’s bylaws, the rules that govern how the union is run. All of the bylaw changes passed by huge margins.

“Working nurses now have the stronger voice they’ve needed for years to take on the challenges we face delivering quality patient care,” said Pat Kane, an RN at Staten Island University Hospital and elected leader of NYSNA. “Now we will set a strong agenda for our
organization, our families and our patients.”

In addition to the dramatic change in the union’s governance structure, the delegates also voted to take on the main challenge in New York’s hospitals today – the need for strong nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios.

Delegates gave rousing support to a resolution calling for safe staffing to become their main focus in the 2013 legislative session, and beyond. Thousands signed pledge cards, committing to workplace actions and strong legislative advocacy in home district offices and in Albany, in a massive, coordinated effort to pass a safe staffing, nurse-to-patient ratio bill in the next legislative session.

“This is a fight for the lives of our patients,” said Anne Bove, president of the NYSNA unit at NYC’s Health and Hospitals Corporation. “We are nurses. We see it every day: Safe staffing saves lives.”

Besides the bylaws changes, delegates voted to eliminate the position of CEO and replace it with an Executive Director, to better reflect the union’s democratic roots and greater accountability to working nurses.

This fall, nurses will elect the union’s newly constituted Board of Directors.